I feel like I’ve been gaslit into running FOSS but every success only brings me closer to fighting god

  • hangonasecond@lemmy.world
    2262·
    10 months ago

    Reddit death > installing mint on my second PC > realising I can run most of the games I play and installing mint on my main PC > start learning Rust as a first foray into programming in a long time > realise I want to go back to uni and study info tech to get out of my shitty marketing job > get a shitty second hand laptop off my parents that struggles to run windows and install endeavourOS to try something different.

    It really is a slippery slope. When does it end???

      • hangonasecond@lemmy.world
        401·
        10 months ago

        I’ve got a pretty good mixture of qualifications and am working in a tech adjacent role so I’m not starting from nothing. I have some decent connections and might be able to carve out something at my current org. So it could be worse.

      • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
        21·
        10 months ago

        Nah, just not the best time. That was 1996. 2021 was pretty good too.

        Besides some high profile layoffs, there are still tons of tech jobs out there in less visible industries. Widget factories and insurance companies all have IT people, along with every one else in general.

      • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
        9·
        10 months ago

        Eh, it’s not bad. Everywhere there’s computers they’ll need a computer janitor to keep them running. It’s just not the insanity of 2021-2 where everyone needed techs and starting wages were rising rapidly

      • los_chill@programming.devEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        Why? No worse than any other job market right now. Sure Google layoffs get headlines but it’s not like tech skill are getting any less employable across sectors. If anything those skills are more critical now than ever.

        • BaldProphet@kbin.social
          31·
          10 months ago

          Sure, the skills are critical. But the tech industry is dysfunctional right now, and there are no signs of reform on the horizon. Anyone attempting to break into the industry is going to find it extremely difficult to get started without experience, as companies don’t want to hire entry-level candidates anymore.

          Even though there may be lots of high-pay, high-skill job openings, there is a dearth of true entry-level positions in IT that don’t require existing work experience and advanced skills.

    • Blaster M@lemmy.world
      13·
      10 months ago

      It never ends

      The next step, you’re handwriting a fixit code because said ancient one off laptop won’t compile linux from scratch properly and some stupid piece of essential hardware is blocking your efforts to get to the shell first time.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      10 months ago

      You still have yet to get through some pis, then a couple of OSX boxes, a Windows VM on proxmox or when you find something in particular you want that’s easier in that direction. Then move into kubernetes.

      You’ll end up with a couple of everything living their best life.

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      10 months ago

      realise I want to go back to uni and study info tech

      I highly recommend it! College as an adult who’s been in the workforce is way better than college as a kid fresh out of highschool. Great opportunity to make some more friends, do some cool college activities, plus there’s lots of good opportunities for student pricing on stuff if you have a .edu email and its a brilliant change of pace.

    • Karna@lemmy.mlEnglish
      81·
      10 months ago

      Watch out Boy! It’s a dangerous drug; it’s called Curiosity 🙂

    • cygnus@lemmy.ca
      4·
      10 months ago

      It really is a slippery slope. When does it end???

      Given that you’re learning Rust, probably getting programming socks and a Blahaj, and then…

    • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      It ends when you write an AI better at configuring Linux than you are, but is also very good at soothing your pride… The latter is the infamous “alignment problem”

      What else would we be making it for?

  • GameGod@lemmy.ca
    69·
    10 months ago

    Your post couldn’t be more true. Decades ago I was sold on MythTV, this PVR software but it only ran on Linux and you had to compile it yourself. So I gave Linux and MythTV a shot. As it turned out, both MythTV and early desktop Linux were a buggy, frustrating mess. X broke all the time. Incomprehensible, ungoogleable compile errors all the time.

    I spent so much time troubleshooting MythTV and compilation problems that I ended up learning Linux inside and out and the C programming language to be able understand the compile errors. I went on to lead a major open source project and have had a long career as a programmer, using all the knowledge I gained that started with fighting MythTV.

    • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
      9·
      10 months ago

      That sounds kinda like my journey, although without the Marxist part.

      1. Clueless about tech, bought an iMac
      2. These ads are annoying. [Installs adblock Plus]. There. Except for fricking Taboola, they can DIAF. And the cookie popup banners. Why do they love cookies if they’re not playing cookie clicker?
      3. It’s the MacOS Catalina Update!! It Thanos snapped my iPod music library. This taught me to avoid MacOS and realize that updates often just make things worse. Set up a dual boot with Windows.
      4. I start browsing r/asshole_design too much. Teaches me to never trust a corporation. I also realize how phones keep dropping useful features. I finally realize uBlock origin blocks much more than ads.
      5. Oh boy, this is where the rabbit hole starts. I’m sick of how slow my Mac is, addicted to discovering new cool apps on my phone, and discover FOSS. I install Linux for the first time, and it runs quite well on a laptop from 2009. Also YouTube goes full greed mode.
      6. Get my new Windows gaming laptop, try to balance privacy with convenience. But I’m irked at how slow it is for some basic tasks. Everything is stable, except when the laptop’s SSD borked.
      7. Uh oh. Discord, YouTube, and Reddit all make massively greedy decisions, and I don’t want to support those platforms anymore. I discover Lemmy. I try to focus extra hard on FOSS and donate $150 over the course of the year. I think this tells me I’ve became radicalized. Proprietary platforms keep getting worse and worse.
      8. Linux resurgence. Tired of Windows, and one of my classes needs a UNIX terminal. Sounds like it’s time to dual boot (on 2 SSDs), with Ubuntu being the default. Also I buy a year of Nebula to support creators and stick it to Google.
      • Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de
        4·
        10 months ago

        Maybe a bit random, but

        Also I buy a year of Nebula to support creators and stick it to Google.

        Would you recommend that? I also wanna quit/ reduce YouTube and enjoy learning new stuff while watching high quality content. Is it worth its money? I’m currently broke and have to watch my finances, but I wouldn’t mind spending a few bucks if it’s something I enjoy.

        • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
          3·
          10 months ago

          You can get a promo for $30/yr. If you’re broke, it’s hard to recommend it as money is better spent on needs, but if you have some disposable income I’d say it’s worth it. Many large creators upload their YT videos (sans sponsorship sections) to it and add bonus exclusive content, and it doesn’t come with any ads.

  • FrostKing@lemmy.world
    52·
    10 months ago

    I don’t run Linux (though I’m admittedly more interested in it than I used to be) but the reddit API stuff definitely made me learn more about foss, and value it more.

    • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
      9·
      10 months ago

      If you’re already feeling some interests your gonna jump ship sooner or later. I made the switch last year and its been nothing short of amazing.

      Steam, gog and epic games all work. Some run better then on windows, others require a tinker step.

      You can run and install most exes, even pirated games using Lutrius.

      Blazing fast. I have sm called hyprland sway and win11 feels like the stone age compared.

      Best of all: COMPUTERS ARE FUN AGAIN You learn so much but its intuitive enough you don’t even notice.

      • FrostKing@lemmy.world
        3·
        10 months ago

        Interesting to know that steam, gog, and epic (specifically) all work well for you, I’ve heard mixed results with Epic, some say it doesn’t work. Maybe I’ve gotten wrong info.

        I have an older laptop, and as soon as I can upgrade to something better, I’m going to use it as a Linux practice.

        • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
          4·
          10 months ago

          I am using heroic launcher to play blazing sails on epic right now. I am on Arch, which I believe is a positive since the steam deck is arch based (i heard).

          The escapist 2 i have not gotten to work properly though. It runs but with like 1fps. Apparently this is because epics implementation and it runs smooth with steam. Definitely test things on a game by game basis.

    • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      I do value FOSS sodtware and like linux for it being foss(there are many other reasons too though). I do think understanding importance of Free software is much important than admiring one of the(most important) free software projects. I can see yku usibg linux soon or later in the future, along with other free programs

      • FrostKing@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        I think maybe I’m misunderstanding—are you saying that valuing free software is more important than valuing FOSS? FOSS is inherently free, no? Free Open Source Software. I would understand if I was talking about open source in general, but FOSS does include being free. Maybe that’s not what you meant.

  • bnjmn@lemm.ee
    46·
    10 months ago

    I got pissed off at Google Photos, which led me down a self-hosting rabbit hole. Ended up installing Linux everywhere, even my “gaming” one eventually (I do development, and WSL was a resource hog).

    The hardest thing to degoogle has been email - I’ve used the same address for years. But I use Thunderbird so at least I don’t have to see ads in my fucking inbox

      • PlexSheep@feddit.de
        12·
        10 months ago

        I use them too, they have some good stuff, but are pretty behind in usability.

        • No Linux file sync client, making the drive pretty useless for me.
        • Android file sync is only bloody images for some reasons
        • The android proton Mail Mobile app is missing some features, like select all
        • You can’t use any other app than the official one on android (If you don’t use something special to access their server)
        • You need the proton bridge to be able to access their servers on regular computers. This only works for Mail, so no calendar or contacts sync. You can only host the proton bridge on localhost, meaning that automating SMTP for a server with containers or vms just isn’t possible. Every host needs to run the damn bridge.(proper SMTP is apparently available for businesses)
        • Can’t sync the contacts to my phone (only upload my contacts)

        I just wish they did usability a bit better, it can’t be so hard. There is probably more that I didn’t think of right now. Don’t get me wrong, they have big potential.

        • They do pgp (yay)
        • They offer hosting mail for your domain (just set DNS to their values, it just works and there haven’t been any problems with that part.)
        • Pretty pro open source
        • Seems like the best alternative we can get to megacorp data stealer clouds, besides Selfhosting perhaps
        • I’ve never had any downtime, which is why I switched from Selfhosting Mail to proton
        • I’m sure they have much better security than my selfhosted mailcow
    • EuroNutellaMan@lemmy.world
      8·
      10 months ago

      May I recommend Proton Mail? I used gmail for years then decided to finally switch and it was easier than I thought, tho tbf I also don’t have a lot of people who need to email me, it was mostly services where it’s easier to tell them to switch over to the other mail.

      EDIT: I read your later comment nvm

      • bnjmn@lemm.ee
        2·
        10 months ago

        I’ll have to check it out! Same here, mostly services on my end - but I’ve accumulated enough of them to make it tiresome. Still, I’ll have to do it at some point

    • sadcoconut@lemm.ee
      4·
      10 months ago

      What are you using instead of Google Photos?

      I’m the other way round, email was the first thing I degoogled. It’s Photos I don’t know how to replace.

        • targetx@programming.dev
          5·
          10 months ago

          “The project is under very active development. Expect bugs and changes. Do not use it as the only way to store your photos and videos!”

          • bnjmn@lemm.ee
            7·
            10 months ago

            I’m aware :) really, anyone that backs up anything at all shouldn’t be using ONE THING for backups.

            Personally, I use it to “sync” photos from my phone to my computer. I run nightly backups via a cron script.

            Still, can’t say I’ve had any issues so far

    • callyral [he/they]@pawb.socialEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      Related: does anyone here have any thoughts on Tutanota and how it compares to Proton Mail? I’ve considered using it in the future.

    • BlanK0@lemmy.ml
      2·
      10 months ago

      You could switch to proton mail and synchronize the gmail account to proton, saves the hassle 👍

  • FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world
    482·
    10 months ago

    Now you just need to remove snaps. And then when Canonical still forces them on you, you move to Linux Mint, but then Linux mint won’t be updated as often as you’d like. So then you move to Arch. Then you’ll really be one of us

    • Huschke@lemmy.world
      8·
      10 months ago

      Mint to Arch?

      That’s like saying: “ok now that you have driven your for first car for a few weeks it’s time to fly your first plane. Good luck.”

      • Karna@lemmy.mlEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        “been forced” part is definitely true for Firefox and Thunderbird packages. Snap packages takes precedence over deb package, if I remember it correctly.

        • psud@lemmy.world
          4·
          10 months ago

          It is difficult to switch out the Firefox snap for the deb. If you install anything from the easy-to-use software store it’ll be a snap.

          I’m glad I know my way around the terminal tools

        • Tattorack@lemmy.world
          2·
          10 months ago

          But I just installed Firefox with apt-get. Fairly certain it doesn’t install the snap version that way.

          • Karna@lemmy.mlEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            Can you check if you already have Mozilla deb repo setup on your ubuntu installation?

          • FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world
            1·
            10 months ago

            It can. There was a ‘feature’ in Ubuntu before that made apt actually fetch the Snap version instead. I think this was the case for Chromium and Firefox. I don’t know if this is still the case though.

    • frippa@lemmy.ml
      12·
      10 months ago

      If we are in a simulation it means God is the ascended version of a gigantic Linux server

      • oo1@kbin.social
        5·
        10 months ago

        sudo mkdir /dev/heaven
        sudo mkdir /dev/earth
        sudo chmod o+rx /dev/earth
        sudo systemctl start light.service

        (/s, just trying to troll some systemd haters)

      • ffhein@lemmy.world
        1·
        10 months ago

        I guess you’d need to find him first if you want to fight him? I think TempleOS is also FOSS in case you want to find god without fighting him.

  • Ashen44@lemmy.ca
    33·
    10 months ago

    Fuck did we all go down the exact same pipeline? I just installed Linux last week and I haven’t booted up windows since.

    • pirrrrrrrr@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      10 months ago

      No. Some of us were already there.

      Lifetime Microsoft expert here, I have had machines with Linux in one flavour or another for 15+ years at least.

      But for ease of use I just keep coming back to Windows… Because I know it backwards and upside down.

      The structure of it makes sense to me. And I have ADHD so I have a terrible working memory and Linux relies FAR too much on command console to do anything effective.

      But Linux is hands-down the better system to get away from Microsoft’s enshitification of Windows. But I personally like Windows better.

      So I will always run both. But if I need to be really productive, Windows Desktop it is. If I need a server, Linux every time. (Unless it’s MS SQL or a website).

        • honeyontoast@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I like it, but I’m not exactly a power user and the only other distros I’ve used are Ubuntu and mint. I think if you want a Debian based distro that’s not tied to Ubuntu then Mx is a good choice. I know there’s LMDE too but as far as I know that’s only available with cinnamon, so Mx having KDE plasma is nice too.

          There’s the whole sysvinit Vs systemd but I don’t have a dog in that fight and enabled systemd, which Mx makes very easy even though they advise against it.

  • piracysails@lemm.ee
    311·
    10 months ago

    If you ever get bored of Ubuntu. You could try fedora kde, the recent versions are so good.

    Don’t forget to install codecs though.

    • limelight79@lemm.ee
      6·
      10 months ago

      I run Kubuntu on my desktop and laptop machines but I’m seriously considering switching to Debian (which I run on my server). Any reason I wouldn’t want to do that on my desktop or laptop?

      (Previously I ran Slackware on everything, so both of them feel like gliding softly on a cloud to me.)

      • gayhitler420@lemm.ee
        6·
        10 months ago

        There’s no reason. I switched to Debian after leaving Slackware around the reiser4 time. It’s real good.

        • limelight79@lemm.ee
          2·
          10 months ago

          Yeah it seems to work very well on my server. I’ve always just wondered why I don’t see more people recommending it when they’re switching from Ubuntu/Kubuntu. From what I’ve seen on the server (which I mostly access remotely), it seems decent.

        • limelight79@lemm.ee
          3·
          10 months ago

          Thanks. I often wonder why I don’t see people recommending Debian as a potential destination from Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Why not go to the Free source?

          • ★ 𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐤𝐤𝐚𝐚𝐏𝐫𝐮𝐬 ★@lemmy.ml
            1·
            10 months ago

            I really do not know. But what I can say for sure is that during the installation of Debian, it allows you to choose the desktop environment at installation time, so you can have your Debian with KDE at minute 0 after installing it.

            On the other hand, remember that Kubuntu is derived from Ubuntu. I don’t see Ubuntu fans very enthusiastic about creating another Debian-based distro with KDE preinstalled when they even offer it (live images) to you here.

    • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      Weird. I’ve been trying to find a distro I’m happy with and was setting Fedora KDE up today. Ran though my bookmarks and found no videos played on Twitch. Had to install codecs to get it to work. I hadn’t seen this in previous distros. Is this specific to Fedora? Other than this hiccup I’ve enjoyed it so far.

      I liked how straight forward Linux Mint is but prefer KDE Plasma. Plus Mint seems quite far behind in versions.

      • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
        4·
        10 months ago

        In their gnome version, during the setup process (first boot, not install), they would prompt for third-party repo and codec (Enabled by default, IIRC).

        I think you might have unchecked that? or KDE not offering such experience?

        EDIT: NVM, I just checked, and I have never installed the codecs… LOL.

        Fedora is notorious for avoiding shipping proprietary software with their distro even at the cost of new users.

        I think this might stems from the fact that fedora used to be a distro aimed for advanced users. It is slowly getting better at being new user friendly.

        • MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org
          5·
          10 months ago

          I wonder if it is notorious?

          Do most Linux users (in this context we’ll say people who specifically choose to use Linux and by extension chose a specific distribution) look unfavorably on proprietary software being excluded by default?

          For me, I prefer it so I don’t see it that way. But it is also an extra step and an annoyance if you want things to “just work”. Which is an understandable position.

          Food for thought, I guess.

          • ⸻ Ban DHMO 🇦🇺 ⸻@aussie.zoneEnglish
            2·
            10 months ago

            I’d like it if they weren’t necessary and everything was AV1, then I would be alright with the codecs being omitted by default without any simple way to install them.

            Similarly with the NVIDIA proprietary driver, NVIDIA actually recommend installing the driver through the package provided through your distro on thier download page

          • piracysails@lemm.ee
            1·
            10 months ago

            It is definitely not, at least for me when I switched to Linux.

            I noticed weird issues while watching a video through VLC, posted about it on Reddit and someone suggested that I had not installed the codecs.

          • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
            1·
            10 months ago

            Yeah, I was wondering why I have desync issues couple days ago watching videos with my wife.

            Modern YouTube videos are generally fine, but many other site has poor support for popular codecs.

        • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          10 months ago

          Yeah, I don’t recall seeing that and installed it about four times.

        • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
          6·
          10 months ago

          Save the pain and install Nobara.

          I mean, it’s one dropdown/checkbox click, to enable codecs sources. I get your point though, having to remember to enable that.

          I’d used Nobara if I knew it was being supported by more than just one (great/special; I’m aware of his contribution to gaming on Linux) guy (please correct me if this is no longer the case?), since it would be installed on my daily driver box, and it’s important for me to have a high level of reliability, even though I do more gaming tasks than non-gaming tasks on it.

          I’m aware that Nobara is based from Fedora, but am nervous about having a single point of failure, support wise.

        • Swarfega@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          I started this way today but kept coming up with an error with rsync during install. I tried in Virtual Box and had the same error. I gave up and just installed Fedora in the end.

          • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            10 months ago

            No clue what rsync would be doing. Maybe there’s an issue with the current ISO, but I’ve installed it on a few systems in the last couple months with no issues.

    • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
      3·
      10 months ago

      You could try fedora kde

      I love me some Fedora with KDE, and looking forward to the next major version of KDE.

    • SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
      1·
      10 months ago

      How do I install codecs? I’m running Ubuntu and I don’t have the option to encode in H.265, which I could do on Windows.

      • piracysails@lemm.ee
        1·
        10 months ago

        I fas as I am aware, Ubuntu ships codecs by default.

        Fedora does not ship proprietary software due to license issues.

        *This is just what I know, you should fact check both.